Kanji Before and After Mullivaikkal: Resistance Histories of Jaffna

Abstract: 
Sri Lanka endured a protracted civil war that ended in 2009 with the defeat of the rebel group, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. During the war’s end in Mullivaikkal, hundreds of thousands of Tamils were murdered and several thousand were displaced. In this last phase, kanji (rice gruel) became the sole source of sustenance. Kanji is a versatile Tamil dish that adapts to circumstances of scarce resources. This talk contextualizes Mullivaikkal Kanji within the Northern Sri Lankan Tamil culinary tradition and explores how it became a symbol of resistance.

Bio:
Dr. Geetha Sukumaran is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Feeding City Lab in the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences.